President Barack Obama on Wednesday will announce that he has selected Janet Yellen as his nominee to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, the White House said Tuesday, bringing a remarkably noisy battle over the top job at the nation’s central bank to what should be a relatively quiet conclusion.

The announcement, set for 3 p.m. at the White House, follows a tense public selection process that saw the president’s initial first choice, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, withdraw his name after fierce opposition from many Democrats.

Yellen, the current vice chair of the Fed, was long seen as a much safer choice for the president and she would be the first woman to lead the U.S. central bank. She is close to current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and is likely to draw far less Senate opposition than Summers would have.

Many Senate Republicans are likely to oppose Yellen over her support for the Fed’s massive stimulus program in which it has purchased hundreds of billions in Treasury bonds and mortgage securities in order to try and keep interest rates low and boost the economy. Many Republicans believe this risks inflation and usurps fiscal authority that should rest with Congress.

On Tuesday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who sits on the Banking Committee, noted he opposed Yellen’s nomination for Fed vice chair in 2010 because of her views on monetary policy.

“We will closely examine her record since that time, but I am not aware of anything that demonstrates her views have changed,” he said in a statement.

Yellen is likely to enjoy uniform support from Democrats, many of whom signed a letter over the summer urging the president to pass over Summers and make her the nominee.

These Democrats argued that Summers was too close to Wall Street, did not support strong enough banking regulation and had difficulty working well with women. Supporters of Summers, including many senior White House officials, unsuccessfully tried to beat back these arguments.

“Today is a historic moment for the Federal Reserve, for women everywhere, and for all of us who care about job creation,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a Wall Street critic who spearheaded the letter pushing for Yellen’s nomination, said in a statement. “Governor Yellen will work to prevent future bailouts, boost our housing markets, and give the Fed’s mandate to maximize employment the attention it deserves.”

Yellen is viewed by financial markets as a “dove” on monetary policy, meaning she would be inclined to keep interest rates low and maintain the current policy of asset purchases for a long period of time and until unemployment drops significantly below its current 7.3 percent level.

The Fed, under Bernanke, recently telegraphed its intentions to start pulling back its asset purchases this fall. But then the central bank put those plans on hold this summer in the face of the current fiscal crisis in Washington and with signs the economy is not yet growing as strongly as hoped. Yellen, should she win confirmation, would be tasked with guiding the Fed’s exit from its extraordinary asset purchase policy.

Yellen’s selection is likely to reassure stock market investors that stimulus will continue to flow for at least a while and that rate hikes remain at least a couple of years away. The selection should also calm the market more broadly as it reduces the likelihood of a protracted and ugly confirmation battle.

“Bottom line, this is bullish for stocks and bonds,” said James Paulsen of Wells Capital Management.

The announcement comes as markets are dropping over concern that the current government shutdown will bleed into a debt ceiling crisis. The Treasury Department says it will run out of special moves to stave off eventual default by OCt. 17 if Congress does not lift the government borrowing limit. Resolution of the debt ceiling standoff is a far more pressing concern than Obama’s selection for Fed chair, especially as markets assumed Yellen would be the pick.

Bernanke’s term ends Jan. 31 and Yellen must be confirmed by that date. She must first clear the Senate Banking Committee, which is not expected to be a problem. Assuming opponents in the GOP mount a filibuster, Yellen would need to attract six Republicans to win confirmation, something many Congressional observers view as likely. The GOP would be taking a big risk in opposing the first woman to be nominated to be Fed chair.

“I commend President Obama on his selection of Dr. Yellen to be the first woman to serve as Federal Reserve Chairman,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) said in a statement. “She has a depth of experience that is second to none, and I have no doubt she will be an excellent Federal Reserve Chairman.”

Yellen, 67, emerged with Summers, Obama’s former top economic aide, as the two finalists for the spot earlier this summer. People close to Obama said the president preferred Summers because the two worked closely in the first years of Obama’s term on the stimulus package and bank and auto rescues that stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis.

People at Treasury and the White House who had worked with Summers also supported him for the post, saying his public image did not square with the man they knew. Officials also said Obama, who tends to favor people he knows well for top jobs, did not have much of a relationship with Yellen.

Many liberal Democrats in the Senate, such as Brown and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, however, made it clear they preferred Yellen.

Academic economists also weighed in on Yellen’s behalf, arguing that her experience made her the perfect choice for the central bank. The New York Times ran two blistering editorials demanding that Obama pick Yellen over Summers. Never in the history of the central bank had the issue of succession spilled so noisily into public view.

Now it appears the the saga will end fairly quietly, with the candidate seen as most likely at the outset to succeed Bernanke getting the job after all.